Yeah, it's not gonna do much to anyone's faith. The Governing Body will send their love and prayers and the faithful will eat it up. The more Russia cracks down, the more Jehovah's Witnesses will feel persecuted, i.e., special, important, meaningful. That's gonna draw them deeper in, not push them further out.
john.prestor
JoinedPosts by john.prestor
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13
Will the Russian brothers start to wake up?
by nowwhat? inif i was a russian brother i would be wondering what exactly is the gb doing to help us out.
they are sitting in their lakeside corporate country club doing nothing while outside worldly agencies are making known our plight.
i found it puzzling that they flew out of russia like a bat out of hell as soon as the court rendered its decision leaving us high and dry.
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The Baptist version of "Listen Obey and Be Blessed"
by john.prestor inso i share stories from time to time on here from my childhood in a fundamentalist baptist church, which sounds pretty damn similar to some of the stories i read on here from ex-witnesses, the fear and guilt-tripping, the sexual repression, the world being a dark and wicked place, i even went door-to-door once in a while to hand out chick tracts (wish i was kidding) and try to get people to come to our church... so they could pay the pastor's salary, but i digress.
anyway, i don't remember a lot of it because my parents started bringing me to sunday school as soon as i could walk, so on sunday mornings my family dressed up and headed out the door bright and early to services.
my parents stayed upstairs for adult classes and me and my brother went downstairs where all the kids met to sing songs together before we separated for "age-appropriate" activities.
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john.prestor
I think the difference is just terminology, I mean yeah the song says "the Lord" but the Baptists wanted to tell me what "the Lord" wanted, and if I said "The Lord wants me to rob people" they would never accept that, and we understood male leaders as spokesmen for the Lord more or less, we trusted them to tell us what the Bible meant and how we should live. The church was independent, it wasn't connected to any overarching authority, so if the board of elected deacons thought a pastor looked good, they hired him; that's all it came down to.
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The Baptist version of "Listen Obey and Be Blessed"
by john.prestor inso i share stories from time to time on here from my childhood in a fundamentalist baptist church, which sounds pretty damn similar to some of the stories i read on here from ex-witnesses, the fear and guilt-tripping, the sexual repression, the world being a dark and wicked place, i even went door-to-door once in a while to hand out chick tracts (wish i was kidding) and try to get people to come to our church... so they could pay the pastor's salary, but i digress.
anyway, i don't remember a lot of it because my parents started bringing me to sunday school as soon as i could walk, so on sunday mornings my family dressed up and headed out the door bright and early to services.
my parents stayed upstairs for adult classes and me and my brother went downstairs where all the kids met to sing songs together before we separated for "age-appropriate" activities.
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john.prestor
So I share stories from time to time on here from my childhood in a fundamentalist Baptist church, which sounds pretty damn similar to some of the stories I read on here from ex-Witnesses, the fear and guilt-tripping, the sexual repression, the world being a dark and wicked place, I even went door-to-door once in a while to hand out Chick Tracts (wish I was kidding) and try to get people to come to our church... so they could pay the pastor's salary, but I digress. Anyway, I don't remember a lot of it because my parents started bringing me to Sunday school as soon as I could walk, so on Sunday mornings my family dressed up and headed out the door bright and early to services. My parents stayed upstairs for adult classes and me and my brother went downstairs where all the kids met to sing songs together before we separated for "age-appropriate" activities. This friendly and kinda effiminate guy got in front of the room and held up these poster boards with the song lyrics on them, we used to get really into the songs,
A while back I remembered one of the songs we used to sing, it just came back to me at a bus stop and it creeped me the hell out so I wrote the first stanza and the chorus down in a notebook. It's called "Obedience," no need to mince words I guess:
Obedience is the very best way,
To show that you believe.
Doing exactly what the Lord commands,
Doing it happily.
Action is the key – do it immediately,
Joy you will receive.Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.
O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E
Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.I ask myself how a grown man could make us sing that song in good faith. It's nothing more than "Do what we say and don't think about it," it's not like at 5 or 6 we made up our own minds on what "the Lord" said, people like him told us what "the Lord" wanted us to do and we did it because we didn't know any better. It reminds me of "Listen, Obey, and Be Blessed," just change the tune and the words it's the same authoritarian, Orwellian message underneath, barely disguised.
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May 2019 Study Article in the Watchtower
by Lost in the fog inhere is paragraph 18 of the study article.
made to the congregation.
(1 cor.
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john.prestor
Vidiot, I'm with you one hundred percent. Pedophilia shatters the illusion of "we're different from the world" like a rock through a window.
days of future passed, no, opportunists aren't everywhere, that's my point. Pedophiles don't roam our neighborhoods: they go after "low hanging fruit." It's suspicious as hell if some random guy shows up and tries to talk his way inside with some kid he doesn't know, who might call the cops, they teach kids to do that in school, and pedophiles aren't braindead. It's not suspicious if uncle someone wants to take their nephew on a camping trip, or if the priest wants to instruct a kid one-on-one about religious matters. Find me or show me one case in which a pedophile went door-to-door, found a kid home alone, and came back later.
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And JW's are not allowed to think about sex? O_o
by nowawake14 ini thought this might catch your eye.
especially if you're a man.. they say thinking about sex is wrong!
that's biologically impossible.
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john.prestor
I laughed when I read Young People Ask and they quoted some verse from one of Paul's letters about "deaden your members regarding fornication" and said masturbation doesn't "deaden them" but excited them... yeah, for 10 minutes (or longer depending on the person), then you can relax and go on with your day. Telling someone not to masturbate gets them nowhere: they will eventually cave, we're meant to fuck.
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And JW's are not allowed to think about sex? O_o
by nowawake14 ini thought this might catch your eye.
especially if you're a man.. they say thinking about sex is wrong!
that's biologically impossible.
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john.prestor
Sounds like you're awake alright, haha. Yeah, I don't know how they did or do it either. I was never a Jehovah's Witness but my parents raised me in a fundamentalist Baptist church where the pastor went on and on about if you look at a woman with lust you already committed adultery with her in your heart. I used to feel terrible because I couldn't stop thinking about fucking women, and then I realized one day that I couldn't keep that rule if I wanted to. That was right around the time I started dating and my first girlfriend mighta helped with that too... Sex is natural and healthy, and anyone who tells us not to have it doesn't have our best interests in mind. It's that simple.
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march broadcast about neutrality
by road to nowhere ini notice they commented that "we" should not sympathise with protestors, like the protestors are always right.
sometimes i feel a protest would be a good place for a machine gun, because i do have feelings on different things.
despite their stated neitral stance, the wt is left leaning.
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john.prestor
Are you on something?
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Be Bold Circult assembly
by Rattigan350 inat the 2018-2019 be bold circult assembly yesterday.
yes, curcult, change the i to an l. because when they have 2 demonstrations about youths not going to university and another talk says for adults at work to be bold and refuse birthday treats being given away, it shows so much pettiness and lack of real concern for the people.. i was actually looking forward to the ca because a week before tornadoes went through our circuit and passed 2 miles by a kingdom hall and less than 1 mile by another that had meetings that afternoon.
i was expecting the circult overseer to give a report on it.
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john.prestor
How much bolder can you get than saying no to cupcakes? That's true bravery right there. -
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May 2019 Study Article in the Watchtower
by Lost in the fog inhere is paragraph 18 of the study article.
made to the congregation.
(1 cor.
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john.prestor
I highly doubt pedophiles go door-to-door, make notes about the home alone kids they encounter, and go back later on their own and try to talk their way inside; that's silly and along the lines of 'stranger danger' kind of stuff. Remember, pedophiles typically molest children they know, relatives, family friends, etc. The real concern, and I'm sure you share this concern with me, is pedophiles working door-to-door with young Witnesses who they might find themselves alone with, or make the opportunity to get alone with, at the Kingdom Hall before the car groups go out or in the car 'working' one-on-one with them. That should worry everyone, especially because men tend to be pedophiles, and the Governing Body gives men (whether Elders or not) immense authority in 'Jehovah's organization.' This makes it all the more difficult for a child to resist if a pedophile tries to molest them.
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March broadcast - Tightpants Tony wants to be filmed in action
by sir82 indid anyone else notice this?.
tony tightpants has the "morning worship" featurette in the march jw broadcast.. he appears to be hoping that someone will be videotaping the slaughter of 7 billion men, women, and children at armageddon.. quote is something like "we have some really good videographers here at bethel, but i don't think even they could capture what will happen.
still, all things are possible with god..." (not exact, but that is the gist).. and of course morris imagines himself as one of the "anointed", who will be the ones, per wt doctrine, to conduct the slaughter.. it takes a special kind of hubris, arrogance, and sadism to wish that you yourself could be filmed in the act of slaughtering billions of people.. i've encountered a lot of jws with "dark souls", but based on his public comments, i'd say morris has teh blackest one i've seen.. if he says stuff like this for broadcast to 8 million + jws, what does he say in private?
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john.prestor
Help from the elders, the author means they should turn themselves in so the elders can shame them and throw them out. Their euphemisms will never cease to amaze me.